Home Office

Passports: British Nationals Abroad

Tommy Sheppard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) number and (b) proportion of applications for a passport for a child overseas take longer than (a) three, (b) four and (c) six months to be processed.

James Brokenshire: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 15 July 2015.The correct answer should have been:

A total of 49,173 international child passport applications finished processing in January-June 2015. Of this total, 2,418 (4.9%) 3,242 (6.6%) took longer than three months to be processed, 1,780 (3.6%) 2,539 (5.2%) took longer than four months to be processed, and 944 (1.9%) 1,657 (3.4%) took longer than six months to be processed.The processing time is the length of time from receipt of the application to the passport being printed. For international child passport applications processed in the same period, the average processing time was 19.4 working days. Information is not held on the time between receipt of application and interview date as the date of interview can be subject to customer availability.Her Majesty’s Passport Office must be fully satisfied that all appropriate checks have been completed successfully prior to the issuance of passport facilities. This is particularly important in relation to child applications as part of Her Majesty’s Passport Office responsibility to protect potentially vulnerable children, including those potentially at risk of child trafficking and to maintain the integrity of the British Passport.These checks can require the provision of information from other agencies overseas – particularly in complex applications such as surrogacy cases.Delays in the provision of this information to HMPO can lead to significantly extended timeframe in processing applications.

James Brokenshire: A total of 49,173 international child passport applications finished processing in January-June 2015. Of this total, 2,418 (4.9%) 3,242 (6.6%) took longer than three months to be processed, 1,780 (3.6%) 2,539 (5.2%) took longer than four months to be processed, and 944 (1.9%) 1,657 (3.4%) took longer than six months to be processed.The processing time is the length of time from receipt of the application to the passport being printed. For international child passport applications processed in the same period, the average processing time was 19.4 working days. Information is not held on the time between receipt of application and interview date as the date of interview can be subject to customer availability.Her Majesty’s Passport Office must be fully satisfied that all appropriate checks have been completed successfully prior to the issuance of passport facilities. This is particularly important in relation to child applications as part of Her Majesty’s Passport Office responsibility to protect potentially vulnerable children, including those potentially at risk of child trafficking and to maintain the integrity of the British Passport.These checks can require the provision of information from other agencies overseas – particularly in complex applications such as surrogacy cases.Delays in the provision of this information to HMPO can lead to significantly extended timeframe in processing applications.

Passports: British Nationals Abroad

Tommy Sheppard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time is for processing a passport application for a child overseas from the initial application to the interview in connection with that application.

James Brokenshire: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 15 July 2015.The correct answer should have been:

A total of 49,173 international child passport applications finished processing in January-June 2015. Of this total, 2,418 (4.9%) 3,242 (6.6%) took longer than three months to be processed, 1,780 (3.6%) 2,539 (5.2%) took longer than four months to be processed, and 944 (1.9%) 1,657 (3.4%) took longer than six months to be processed.The processing time is the length of time from receipt of the application to the passport being printed. For international child passport applications processed in the same period, the average processing time was 19.4 working days. Information is not held on the time between receipt of application and interview date as the date of interview can be subject to customer availability.Her Majesty’s Passport Office must be fully satisfied that all appropriate checks have been completed successfully prior to the issuance of passport facilities. This is particularly important in relation to child applications as part of Her Majesty’s Passport Office responsibility to protect potentially vulnerable children, including those potentially at risk of child trafficking and to maintain the integrity of the British Passport.These checks can require the provision of information from other agencies overseas – particularly in complex applications such as surrogacy cases.Delays in the provision of this information to HMPO can lead to significantly extended timeframe in processing applications.

James Brokenshire: A total of 49,173 international child passport applications finished processing in January-June 2015. Of this total, 2,418 (4.9%) 3,242 (6.6%) took longer than three months to be processed, 1,780 (3.6%) 2,539 (5.2%) took longer than four months to be processed, and 944 (1.9%) 1,657 (3.4%) took longer than six months to be processed.The processing time is the length of time from receipt of the application to the passport being printed. For international child passport applications processed in the same period, the average processing time was 19.4 working days. Information is not held on the time between receipt of application and interview date as the date of interview can be subject to customer availability.Her Majesty’s Passport Office must be fully satisfied that all appropriate checks have been completed successfully prior to the issuance of passport facilities. This is particularly important in relation to child applications as part of Her Majesty’s Passport Office responsibility to protect potentially vulnerable children, including those potentially at risk of child trafficking and to maintain the integrity of the British Passport.These checks can require the provision of information from other agencies overseas – particularly in complex applications such as surrogacy cases.Delays in the provision of this information to HMPO can lead to significantly extended timeframe in processing applications.

Human Trafficking

Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many telephone calls were received by the Metropolitan Police's human trafficking helpline in each of the last three years; how many of these calls were from (a) victims of human trafficking, (b) professional workers and (c) the general public; and what the annual cost is of running the service.

Karen Bradley: The Home Office does not hold this data. The Metropolitan Police Human Trafficking helpline is owned by the Metropolitan Police and is independent of the Home Office.

Child Sexual Abuse Independent Panel Inquiry

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much was paid to panel members of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in the 2014-15 financial year.

Karen Bradley: £157,145.18 was paid to panel members of the child abuse inquiry in the 2014-15 financial year.

Department for Culture Media and Sport

Charities: Donors

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to  stop charities sharing and selling information about their donors.

Mr Edward Vaizey: In the light of the shocking revelations that have emerged about poor practice in recent weeks my Hon Friend the Minister for Civil Society has asked Sir Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of the National Council of Voluntary Organisations, to chair a cross-party panel to conduct a root and branch review of the self-regulation of charitable fundraising. The panel will report back to him with their recommendations on 21 September.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Radioactive Waste

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the statement by the Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change of 17 June 2015, Official Report, columns 108-112WH, what the evidential basis is for the statements that (a) a geological disposal facility is internationally recognised as the safest means of managing radioactive waste and (b) that Sweden, Finland, Canada and the US are pursuing that type of facility.

Andrea Leadsom: There is general agreement internationally that geological disposal provides the safest long-term management solution for higher activity radioactive waste. The evidence of this is set out in documents such as the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 2003 report ‘Scientific and Technical Basis for the Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes’ and the Nuclear Energy Agency’s Radioactive Waste Management Committee 2008 collective statement ‘Moving Forward with Geological Disposal’. Having taken into account significant public and stakeholder involvement, many countries have adopted geological disposal as their long-term management solution for higher activity radioactive waste. With the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, the Safety Standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, there is now a common framework that guides national regulatory oversight and implementation of geological disposal. While there are countries that have yet to decide or issue long-term waste management policies, no country has adopted a permanent solution other than geological disposal. Detailed evidence that Sweden, Finland, Canada and the US are among those implementing geological disposal is publicly available, but I have provided brief summaries of these programmes below, for your convenience. In Sweden, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, SKB, is planning to construct a Spent Fuel Repository at Forsmark. In Finland, the Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository is currently under construction. In February 2015, Finnish regulations produced a safety evaluation and issued a statement to the Finnish Government confirming that the facility designed by Posiva can be built to be safe. In Canada, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization is carrying out preliminary assessments with communities that have expressed interest in learning more about hosting a deep geological repository and an associated Centre of Expertise. In the US, the US Government endorsed the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future in January 2013. These included a call for prompt efforts to develop one or more GDFs.